Exhaust system of electric vacuum cleaner

ABSTRACT

An exhaust system includes a pipe tube for discharging an exhaust air ejected from an exhaust port of an electric vacuum cleaner to a predetermined exterior location, the pipe tube including a tube main body made of a pliable and less-stretchable material, and a cord inserted into the tube main body, the cord being made of a pliable and highly-stretchable material. The cord, when not stretched, has a length close to an actual extension length which permits connection between the exhaust port of the indoor electric vacuum cleaner and the predetermined exterior location. The tube main body is equal in length to the cord when being stretched. In this state, the ventilation function of the tube main body has a maximum value.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an exhaust system of an electric vacuum cleaner that discharges an exhaust air mixed with invisible fine dust, which passes through a filter of an electric vacuum cleaner, into a predetermined exterior location without releasing the exhaust air into a room.

BACKGROUND

In an electric vacuum cleaner, judging from suction force and exhaust force exerted by a fan motor, it is common knowledge that suction volume and exhaust volume are substantially equal to each other. Although the electric vacuum cleaner is believed to be able to capture nearly 100% of macroscopically visible dust, some doubt remains as to the capture of dust particulates below the visible level as a matter of course. It is true that at least invisible ultrafine dust particulates are floating in the air in a room during room cleaning for a substantial period of time.

In addition to dirt and debris, vermin such as fleas, ticks, or lice, remains thereof, and sandy fine dust occur as flying dust nowadays. Cleaning work in a room under unclean conditions must be unpleasant for men and women of all ages, let alone infants and people with allergies or lung disorders. Prior art practices aimed at overcoming such a problem are disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 to 7, for example.

In the prior art disclosed in Patent Literature 1, as means for mounting an exhaust hose, a mounting opening needs to be formed at a window frame or door frame in each room in advance by construction work, which results in heavy burdens on users. Furthermore, the functional specifications of this prior art have no practical applicability to household systems.

The prior art disclosed in Patent Literature 2 relates to a cleaner intended presumably for cleaning in clean rooms of a factory. This cleaner also necessitates construction work in advance, the scale of which is far greater than that of the construction work in the prior art of Patent Literature 1 as described above. Such a large-scale construction work becomes too burdensome for home users, and the prior art cleaner is unfeasible accordingly.

The prior art disclosed in Patent Literature 3 relates to an electric vacuum cleaner in which an exhaust port of a cleaner main body is provided with a mounting opening for mounting exhaust pipe to discharge an exhaust air to an exterior location. In Patent Literature 3, it is described that “the pipe is a bendable and extendable exhaust pipe constructed of a stretchable bellows pipe or the like which is collapsible when not in use, and, the pipe may be made of a material which is pneumatically inflated before use.”, and that “preferably, the pipe may be provided with wheels arranged at intervals along its length for freedom of movement on a room floor.” In this construction, however, no matter what pipe is used, the pipe is inevitably subjected to pulling force and ensuing unbearably high pressure during cleaning work. Such a material as that which is pneumatically inflatable and is collapsible when not in use lacks sufficient stretchability and easily damaged when pulled. Thus, an extension length of the pipe is limited. As a fatal flaw, when laying the pipe across the boundary of a room or window and the exterior thereof during use, for example, the pipe is bent at the corner of the room or window, causing the interruption of ventilation. Furthermore, the stretchable bellows pipe is not suitable because dust accumulates thereon during blowing of air. Compounding the problem, the mounting of wheels in intermediate locations of the above-described material-made pipe becomes a heavy burden on the pipe, which results in susceptibility of the pipe to damage.

The prior art disclosed in Patent Literature 4 relates to an air cleaning system for purifying the air in an entire room. This system is intended for cleaning in hospitals, food factories, etc., and thus has no practical applicability to household systems.

The prior art disclosed in Patent Literature 5 relates to a system including exhaust means which is detachably secured to a predetermined place, such as an outside-facing window or door or a frame at a room area leading to an exterior location, through which an exhaust hose drawn out of a cleaner main body runs up to the exterior location, via a fastening tool suited to such a place. Although the exhaust hose is made of a synthetic resin or the like material, due to its size and mass, there is a limit to hose portability and upkeep. The hose is limited in its range of extension, and thus the cleaner is used to clean only a limited area of a room. Furthermore, the removal and attachment of the exhaust means need to be done on a room-by-room basis. Depending on the length of the exhaust hose and the structural features of a housing, some areas in the housing cannot be cleaned up. In reality, this system has no practical applicability to household systems.

The prior art disclosed in Patent Literature 6 relates to technologies as to an intake hose for use in an electric vacuum cleaner as a key component that defines the functions of the main body of the cleaner. During cleaning work, the intake hose, being pliable and flexible, is bent and pulled most vigorously under tension at the highest risk of cracking and break. According to this prior art, to reduce excessive stretch of the important intake hose, a less-stretchable wire, called pull relief (formed of a metallic wire or synthetic resin fiber), is laid and integrally joined to the inner side of the hose main body. While the intake hose is reinforced at its end serving as a junction with a material which is harder than the hose main body, under pulling force exerted on each end of the cylindrical hose main body, as well as bending-causing pressure exerted on the hose main body, the pull relief formed integral with the hose main body provides positive protection for the hose's own functions per se. Thus, the pull relief in this prior art is a reinforcing component which is bonded to the hose to provide a double-layered structure for prolongation of the useful life of the hose functionality. That is, the pull relief does not serve as supplementary to other challenging hose functions but serves as a reinforcement which is an integral part of the intake hose functionality of the electric vacuum cleaner.

The prior art disclosed in Patent Literature 7 relates to technologies for protecting a hose constituting an intake section of an electric vacuum cleaner against damage resulting from distortion under pulling force by controlling stretch of the hose in itself with use of a cord mounted externally of the hose.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Many people feel discomfort about cleaning work with an electric vacuum cleaner that performs both the capture of dust and exhaust from the cleaner together in one room, which has led to contending technologies relating to the precision of filter functionality. This trend has created demand for a useful and versatile household exhaust system of an electric vacuum cleaner that can be used without any alteration of user's housing, is simple to operate, affords high cleaning effect, is easy to carry around, is less costly, and is applicable to typical electric vacuum cleaners for home use.

The invention has been devised to solve the technical problems as discussed supra, and accordingly its object is to provide a simply structured, versatile exhaust system of an electric vacuum cleaner that discharges a fine dust-laden exhaust air ejected from an electric vacuum cleaner to an exterior location without fail at low cost.

The invention provides an exhaust system of an electric vacuum cleaner, including a pipe tube for discharging an exhaust air ejected from an exhaust port of the electric vacuum cleaner to a predetermined exterior location, the pipe tube having one end connected to the exhaust port of an electric vacuum cleaner, and the other end fixed to the predetermined exterior location, the pipe tube including a tube main body made of a pliable and less-stretchable material, and a cord inserted into the tube main body, the cord being made of a pliable and highly-stretchable material; the cord, when not stretched, having a length close to an actual extension length which permits connection between the exhaust port of the electric vacuum cleaner for indoor use and the predetermined exterior location, the tube main body being equal in length to the cord when being stretched.

The invention may be carried into effect in the following forms. The pipe tube can discharge an exhaust air ejected from the exhaust port formed in an electric vacuum cleaner to any given exterior location by bypassing the interior of a room without fail. In this pipe tube, the diameter of “tube main body” is set at any given value, and, the tube main body, which is collapsible and oriented randomly in its normal state, is made of a flexible and less-stretchable material such as nylon or vinylon. The cord, which is inserted into the tube main body for directing an exhaust air to any given location, is a pliable and highly-stretchable cord obtained by tying together strings made of a rubber or spring material (which may hereafter be referred to simply as “stretchable cord”).

The “stretchable cord” is an adjustable length cord that traces freely any path, and can be tied to any given location.

In the exhaust system using the pipe tube, with a “tube” portion of the pipe adjusted to a sufficient length which is greater than the length of the “stretchable cord”, the tube portion is laid so as to extend from within a room for creeping movement over the corner of a corridor or a window to a given location. Following the completion of cleaning work, the “stretchable cord” is straightened so that its length becomes equal to that of the “tube”. Under this condition, the tube main body carries out ventilation to the full, thereby enhancing the exhaust capability at a ventilation pressure from the cleaner.

That is, in this system, the correlation in length between the less-stretchable “tube” and the highly “stretchable cord” is conducive to raising the level of the ventilation capability of the pipe. When the tube and the stretchable cord are equal in length to each other, the ventilation capability reaches a hundred-percent level.

Additional auxiliary pipes may be provided for the extension of the pipe on an as needed basis. Moreover, a plurality of “stretchable cords” of varying lengths are preferably prepared. As contrasted to the “cleaner main body built to ensure a long service life”, both the auxiliary pipes and the stretchable cords, viz., the pipe tube is a consumable product.

While the electric vacuum cleaner discharges an exhaust air passing through its filter functionality into a predetermined exterior location by bypassing the interior of a room, in the interest of due consideration to friendliness to the exterior environment, it is necessary to dispose a nonwoven mask (cover bag) at the distal end of the pipe tube for purification of exhaust air.

According to the invention, to eliminate feelings of discomfort about cleaning work in a room in the presence of an exhaust air ejected from an electric vacuum cleaner, the electric vacuum cleaner is installed with the pipe tube capable of discharging an exhaust air directly into a predetermined exterior location by bypassing the interior of the room without fail, thereby allowing cleaning work in a pleasant clean environment without the release of an exhaust air into the room. Thus constructed, the exhaust system achieves discharge of an exhaust air with highly satisfactory ventilation capability by exploiting the correlation in length between “tube main body” and “cord” in the pipe tube.

The exhaust system of an electric vacuum cleaner can be used with low additional expenses, produces little exhaust noise from the pipe tube and an electric vacuum cleaner used in a pair, is easy to, for example, operate and carry around, and allows users to clean each room worry-free in a pleasant clean environment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Other and further objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be more explicit from the following detailed description taken with reference to the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a view showing the basic structure of an exhaust system of an electric vacuum cleaner in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view showing extension pipes 21 to 23 and rings 24 and 25 for pipe extension;

FIG. 3 is a detailed view showing pipe tube 2 connected to an electric vacuum cleaner main body 1 and a weight 8, with a stretchable cord 3 received in a tube main body and swivel hooks 5 and 6 mounted one at each end of the stretchable cord; and

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining the advantageous effects of the exhaust system according to this embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Now referring to the drawings, preferred embodiments of the invention are described below.

FIG. 1 is a view showing the basic structure of an exhaust system of an electric vacuum cleaner in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. In an electric vacuum cleaner in operation, the installed exhaust system of an electric vacuum cleaner according to this embodiment discharges an exhaust air passing through filtering means of the electric vacuum cleaner to a predetermined exterior location via a pipe tube 2 by bypassing the interior of a room. The electric vacuum cleaner equipped with the pipe tube 2 is easy to, for example, operate and carry around, and, any number of auxiliary extension pipes may be used when necessary for cleaning of one room. Even when bent across the boundary of a window or corridor in the room and the exterior thereof, the sufficiently long pipe tube 2 stays with its ventilation path remains unobstructed, which ventilation path extends from one end of the pipe tube to a distal end thereof connected to a swivel hook 6 via a stretchable cord 3. Following the completion of cleaning of each room, the pipe tube extending between an exhaust port of the electric vacuum cleaner and the predetermined exterior location for discharge of an exhaust air is straightened or folded, and the stretchable cord 3 is pulled to the same length as the pipe tube 2. Under this condition, the tube main body carries out ventilation to the full, thereby raising the level of the ventilation capability of the pipe tube 2.

FIG. 1 is a view showing a state where several pipe tubes 2 are attached to the exhaust port of a household electric vacuum cleaner. This construction forms a system that delivers an exhaust air from the electric vacuum cleaner directly to a predetermined exterior location via the pipe tube 2 which receives therein the stretchable cord 3 without releasing the exhaust air into a room. A nonwoven mask 7 is wrapped around the distal end of the pipe tube for the filtering of an exhaust air, and, the swivel hook 6 attached to the stretchable cord 3 is fixedly engaged to a weight 8 placed in a predetermined exterior location. This electric vacuum cleaner is very convenient for domestic use on account of its portability and high cleaning capability.

FIG. 2 is a view showing extension tubes 21 to 23 and rings 24 and 25 that are used when it is desired to lengthen the pipe tube 2. The extension pipes 21 to 23, being made of a pliable material such as nylon or vinylon, are collapsible as members of indefinite shape in their normal state. Any number of extension pipes may be used. In this case, the extension pipes are connected to each other via an adhesive tape or hose band. As shown in FIG. 2(b), when using the ring 24 made of plastic for the connection of the extension pipes 21 to 23, the extension pipe is engaged at its end to the shoulder of the ring. Moreover, the connector ring 25 may be screw-threaded. The pipe tube 2 is a consumable product whose service life is shorter than that of an electric vacuum cleaner main body 1.

FIG. 3 is a detailed view showing the pipe tube 2 connected to the electric vacuum cleaner main body 1 and the weight 8, with the stretchable cord 3 received in the tube main body and the swivel hooks 5 and 6 mounted one at each end of the stretchable cord 3. One end of the stretchable cord 3 is fixed to the electric vacuum cleaner via corresponding one of the swivel hooks 5 and 6, and the other thereof is fixed to the weight 8 placed in a predetermined exterior location via the other swivel hook. While each end of the tube main body is set in a similar position to the corresponding end of the stretchable cord 3, it is advisable to adjust the actual extension length of the tube main body to about 1 to 2 times the length of the stretchable cord 3 when not stretched.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining the advantageous effects of the exhaust system according to this embodiment. The exhaust system of an electric vacuum cleaner employs the pipe tube 2 that can discharge an exhaust air from the exhaust port of an electric vacuum cleaner into a predetermined exterior location by bypassing the interior of a room without fail. In the drawing, the pipe tube 2 is illustrated as being laid so as to extend from within a room for creeping movement over wall corners 11, 12, 13, and 14 to the exterior location. In this exhaust system, even when the pipe tube 2 is bent, the ventilation path remains unobstructed to ensure exhaust air passage to a certain extent. Following the completion of cleaning work, the pipe tube 2 is straightened or folded, and the “tube main body” and the “stretchable cord” are adjusted to the same length. Under this condition, the tube main body effects ventilation to the full, so that the ventilation capability can reach a hundred-percent level. The nonwoven mask 7 is disposed at the distal end of the pipe tube 2 so as to cover the ring 24 attached to the distal end of the pipe tube 2 and the swivel hook 6 attached to the distal end of the stretchable cord 3 for the filtering of an exhaust air, and the pipe tube 2 can be engaged via the nonwoven mask 7 to the weight 8 placed in a predetermined exterior location. As an engagement tool, for example, a hook nail may be prepared.

In the thereby constructed exhaust system of an electric vacuum cleaner according to this embodiment, the tube main body of the pipe tube 2 is kept free of direct pulling tension during cleaning work, and thus ensures a certain level of ventilation capability without fear of damage. Moreover, the tube main body receives therein the stretchable cord which is shorter than the tube main body when not stretched. This makes it possible to prevent tension-caused load on the tube main body, as well as to ensure a certain level of ventilation capability even when the tube main body is bent, and thereby protect the tube main body against damage. Moreover, the pipe tube 2 can be securely held at both ends by one-touch simple engagement operation of the swivel hooks 5 and 6. This helps increase the convenience of the exhaust system. In addition, the pipe tube 2 is a replaceable consumable product which is in no need of reinforcement and protection, and is length-adjustable to permit a connection between any desired locations for cleaning work with adaptability to structural features of a housing. In the pipe tube 2, the ventilation capability of the pliable and less-stretchable tube main body and the leading capability of the pliable and highly-stretchable stretchable cord are correlatively complementary to each other, and, the correlation in length between the tube main body and the stretchable cord is conducive to the implementation of easy-to-use pipe tube 2 having adjustable bypassing capability. This makes it possible to provide an inexpensive exhaust system of an electric vacuum cleaner that allows home users to do cleaning work in a pleasant clean environment in a simple way.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

During cleaning work with an electric vacuum cleaner, both the capture of dust and exhaust from the vacuum cleaner are done together in one room. This has raised concern among many people about adverse effects on a clean indoor environment. In this regard, the exhaust system employing the pipe tube which is attached to an electric vacuum cleaner is capable of discharging an exhaust air passing through the filter of the electric vacuum cleaner directly into an exterior location by bypassing the interior of a room without fail. This exhaust system can be used without any alteration of user's housing, and is suitable for use as an inexpensive home-use exhaust system of an electric vacuum cleaner with portability for ease of cleaning of each individual room.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description and all changes which come within the meaning and the range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

1: Electric vacuum cleaner main body

2: Exhaust pipe

3: Stretchable cord

4: Exhaust air receiving portion

5: Swivel hook

6: Swivel hook

7: Nonwoven mask

8: Weight

11, 12, 13, 14: Corner of wall or the like 

I claim:
 1. An exhaust system of an electric vacuum cleaner, comprising: a pipe tube for discharging an exhaust air ejected from an exhaust port of the electric vacuum cleaner to a predetermined exterior location, the pipe tube having one end connected to the exhaust port of the electric vacuum cleaner, and the other end fixed at the predetermined exterior location, the pipe tube comprising a tube main body made of a pliable and less-stretchable material, and a cord inserted into the tube main body, the cord being made of a pliable and highly-stretchable material, the cord, when not stretched, having a length close to an actual extension length which permits connection between the exhaust port of the electric vacuum cleaner for indoor use and the predetermined exterior location, and the tube main body being equal in length to the cord when being stretched. 